Privacy
Effective October 4, 2026
Handrail has no account, no ads, and no tracking. We don't sell or share your information, and we use it only to pick a skill and to keep the service from being overused.
What Handrail stores on your phone
Your journal. Entries are stored only on your phone and are left out of your phone's iCloud backup. Each entry keeps the one feeling word our server sent back for it. For 60 minutes after you save, that word helps pick a skill if you tap Too much.
A record of the skills Handrail offered and how they went, so it can offer ones that helped before. It holds each feeling word, whether you seemed to be in public or in private, and the app's random install number. It goes into your phone's backup like other app data. It is never sent to us.
Two random numbers in your phone's Keychain: the install number and the ID of the device key described below.
What leaves your phone, and when
Words leave your phone only in these cases:
- When you type on Getting worse and tap Find a skill.
- When you save a journal entry.
- When a saved journal entry could not be sent, Handrail tries once more, the next time you open Getting worse or the journal.
Each time, your words go once, over an encrypted connection, to our server, along with the app's random install number, the ID of its device key, and a signature that proves the request came from the real app. None of these is tied to your name, phone number, or Apple Account. Our server asks an AI model, Claude, made by Anthropic and run through Amazon Bedrock, for one word about how you feel. For words typed on Getting worse, it also asks for one word about where you are: in public, in private, or unknown. The answer helps pick a skill.
Our server keeps no copy of your words and writes none of them to its logs. Logging of the AI model's requests is turned off.
What our server keeps
- A device key from Apple's App Attest, which proves a request came from the real Handrail app on a real iPhone. It holds no name and no phone number.
- A daily count of requests from each device key, to limit use.
- Totals and timings, such as how many requests came in and how long they took, with no words and no device key.
The device key and its count are kept while Handrail is in testing, with no set end date. They hold nothing that identifies you.
Testing through TestFlight
If you test Handrail through Apple's TestFlight, Apple shares the name and email address we invited you with, along with how often you open the app, crash reports, and any feedback or screenshots you choose to send. Apple's own privacy policy covers TestFlight.
This website
This site uses no cookies and no analytics, and it keeps no visitor logs. Its font is served from the site itself, so no other company sees your visit.
Deleting your information
To delete a journal entry, swipe left on it and tap Delete. Deleting Handrail removes your journal and the record of skills from your phone. iOS keeps the two random numbers in the Keychain after an app is deleted, and they link to nothing about you.
Our server's device key can't be matched to a person, so we have no way to find or remove one for you. It holds no name, phone number, or words.
Questions and changes
Email support@handrail-dbt.com. If this policy changes, the new version goes on this page with a new date.